East struggles as West takes Day 1 of Kings Cup

Shane Van Boening shone for Team West as he led his team to take a 4-2 lead over Team East at the Kings Cup billiards tournament at the Resorts World Manila.

The two-time World Pool Masters champion played 4 of the team’s 6 matches and won 3 of them highlighted by his nerve wracking 5-4 win over Django Bustamante in the fifth game. Shane also sealed the first win of Team West as he made the 4-to-10 combination to take the four-on-four match, 5-2, in favor of Team West.

The Ko brothers from Taiwan made a good account of themselves as they provided the wins for the Asian team. The duo paired up in the second match and beat Van Boening and Mika Immonen. Ko Pin Yi then took on Darren Appleton in a singles match and won 5-0.

Both Efren Reyes and Django Bustamente struggled for form as both of them lost all the matches they were part of. In one of the anticipated matches of the evening, the Filipino pool legends paired up against Darren Appleton and Albin Ouschan. The game was close as both teams engaged in a 2-2 deadlock before Team West took the next three racks enroute to a 5-2 victory.

In the final match of the evening, the trio of Mika Immonen, Shane Van Boening, and Albin Ouschan outclassed Reyes and the Ko brothers, 5-3. Team West took a commanding 4-0 lead before Ko Ping Chung made difficult shots and tried to rally his team. But Albin Ouschan closed the eighth rack for Team West and prevented Team East to tie the match.

Team East tries to regroup and stop the West team’s juggernaut today as team captain Efren Reyes promises to comeback after a disappointing performance.

Day 2 matches will feature a singles match between the youngsters Ko Ping Chung and Albin Ouschan. The other singles match will pit both team captains Reyes and Immonen. 3-on-3 match will compose of Appleton, Van Boening, and Immonen for West while East has Bustamante and the Ko brothers while a doubles match will have the pair of Ko Pin Yi and Reyes as they take on Van Boening and Appleton. A four-on-four match will ensue and the final match of the evening will be captain’s pick which will be announced prior to the match.